Parents in denial over obese kids

Parents are in denial about their children's weight problems, calling it puppy fat, according to research to be presented at the NSW Childhood Obesity Summit this week.

The research, commissioned by the State Government, found that almost none of the parents interviewed admitted to having even a slightly overweight child, though one in five Australian children are overweight or obese.

Yet all the parents interviewed were happy to admit they knew of afamily with an overweight child and agreed childhood obesity was increasing.

The results underline the complexity of the problem of childhood obesity, which experts will tackle at the three-day summit held at Parliament House.

Childhood obesity is costing Australia $830 million a year in health costs and experts agree the home environment and parental influence is a key factor. ");document.write("

advertisement

");
}
}
// -->

Associate Professor Kate Steinbeck, director of the Family Weight Management Clinic at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, said many parents were clearly in denial about their child's weight.

"Maybe the whole population is becoming heavier and we are becoming more immune to overweight [children]," she said.

"Or parents feel children will outgrow their weight problem.

"But my version of puppy fat is having an extra kilo or two before puberty, and what we're seeing is children with 10 or 20 extra kilos."

Professor Steinbeck said families often preferred to use the words "heavy" or "large" to describe their child.

"Understandably, there are no good connotations with these words. But sometimes the message has to get through that these children are overweight - as in over-fat," she said.

"We would like to look at this as a chronic health problem, like asthma, which may need lifelong surveillance."

Weight Watchers program developer Martha Lourey Bird, who has a masters degree in childhood obesity, said parents often were ashamed to admit their child was overweight because they feared it would reflect badly on them.

Parents who were overweight themselves were also reluctant to address their child's weight, she said.

Professor Steinbeck said parents were not all to blame for letting their child's weight balloon.

GPs did not offer enough support or advice to parents, who were time-poor and unsure about where to start.

And many parents were genuinely afraid they were going to make life more difficult for their child if they addressed their weight problem.

Flinders University lecturer Kaye Mehta said parents had an uphill battle convincing their children toeat healthy food against the"powerful force of advertising".

Ms Mehta will present research at the summit showing the vast majority of food advertising shown in children's viewing slots are for fast food and confectionary.

She chairs the newly formed Coalition on Food Advertising to Children (CFAC), which will also call for a ban on food advertising during children's television viewing hours.

"Children are shown a very disproportionate message about what is good to eat," she said.

It's no fun being a teenage tubby

At 18, Eleonora Zullo lost 31kg with the help of Weight Watchers and support from her parents.

But she wishes she had been able to lose weight earlier because it would have saved her the anguish of growing up a tubby teenager.

"I was sick and tired of being judged for my weight, not being able to fit in nice clothes and being ignored," she said.

"I remember how hard it was to find a dress for my formal."

Her parents, Margaret and Charlie, had been concerned about Eleonora's increasing weight throughout school.

But several GPs had dismissed their concerns, saying that Eleonora was just carrying puppy fat and would grow out of it.

They were also reluctant to push too hard because they did not want to upset Eleonora's studiesor cause an eating disorder.

Ms Zullo, who is now studying psychology, said the NSW Government could help prevent childhood obesity by educating parents and making school canteens healthier.

The School Canteen Association will call for a ban on soft-drink vending machines in playgrounds at this week's summit.

New research, to be presented at the summit, shows nearly half of primary school children drink a cup of soft drink a day.

The NSW Child Health Survey 2001 also showsa third of children aged from five to 12 eat two or more servings of hot chips each week.

In contrast, only one in seven ate the recommended daily minimum quantity of vegetables.